Saturday Night Live | |
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Season 27 | |
No. of episodes | 20 |
Release | |
Original network | NBC |
Original release | September 29, 2001 – May 18, 2002 |
Season chronology | |
The twenty-seventh season of Saturday Night Live , an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 29, 2001 and May 18, 2002.
Eighteen days before the season started, the September 11 terrorist attacks took place in New York. The season premiere (hosted by Reese Witherspoon) went on as scheduled, with a special cold open featuring Rudy Giuliani, the Mayor of New York City at the time, along with firefighters from the FDNY and police officers from the NYPD, declaring that despite the terrorist attack, New York City will run as normal and Saturday Night Live will go on as planned (with Lorne Michaels asking Giuliani "Can we be funny?" and Giuliani replying "Why start now?").
Three weeks into the season the show faced another scare when anthrax was found in the GE Building (from where the show is broadcast). [1] The scare caused most of the cast and crew, as well as that week's guest host Drew Barrymore, to evacuate the building.
Before the start of the season, longtime cast member Molly Shannon, who had been on the show for seven seasons since 1995, departed midway through the previous season on her own terms, [2] and featured player Jerry Minor [3] and longtime cast member Chris Parnell were both let go from the show after the finale. However, Parnell was hired back to the show midseason in the episode hosted by Jonny Moseley, [4] [5] becoming the second cast member to be hired back to the show after being fired, the first person being Jim Belushi in 1983. [6]
Four new cast members were hired to the show this season: stand-up comic Dean Edwards, Chicago improviser Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler of the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy troupe, [7] [8] and stand-up comic/impressionist Jeff Richards, who was previously a cast member on the rival sketch show MADtv . [9] Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, and Maya Rudolph were all upgraded to repertory status at the beginning of the season, and Poehler was promoted to repertory status mid-season.
Will Ferrell was absent from a number of episodes because he was filming Old School . This would also be the final season for both Ferrell [10] and Ana Gasteyer. After Gasteyer went on maternity leave at the end of the season, she decided not to return to the show. [11]
Repertory players
| Featured players |
bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor
Emily Spivey, [12] Doug Abeles, and Charlie Grandy [13] join the writing staff with this episode. [14]
This was also the final episode for longtime writers Hugh Fink (who had been a writer since 1995) and Matt Piedmont (who had written at the show since 1996, and is called out by departing-cast member Will Ferrell via a cue card for what was their last episode). Fink wrote for the show for seven years, while Piedmont was there for six. [15]
No. overall | No. in season | Host | Musical guest(s) | Original air date | |
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506 | 1 | Reese Witherspoon | Alicia Keys | September 29, 2001 | |
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507 | 2 | Seann William Scott | Sum 41 | October 6, 2001 | |
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508 | 3 | Drew Barrymore | Macy Gray | October 13, 2001 | |
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509 | 4 | John Goodman | Ja Rule | November 3, 2001 | |
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510 | 5 | Gwyneth Paltrow | Ryan Adams | November 10, 2001 | |
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511 | 6 | Billy Bob Thornton | Creed | November 17, 2001 | |
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512 | 7 | Derek Jeter | Bubba Sparxxx Shakira | December 1, 2001 | |
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513 | 8 | Hugh Jackman | Mick Jagger | December 8, 2001 | |
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514 | 9 | Ellen DeGeneres | No Doubt | December 15, 2001 | |
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515 | 10 | Josh Hartnett | Pink | January 12, 2002 | |
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516 | 11 | Jack Black | The Strokes | January 19, 2002 | |
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517 | 12 | Britney Spears | Britney Spears | February 2, 2002 | |
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518 | 13 | Jonny Moseley | Outkast | March 2, 2002 | |
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519 | 14 | Jon Stewart | India.Arie | March 9, 2002 | |
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520 | 15 | Ian McKellen | Kylie Minogue | March 16, 2002 | |
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521 | 16 | Cameron Diaz | Jimmy Eat World | April 6, 2002 | |
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522 | 17 | The Rock | Andrew W.K. | April 13, 2002 | |
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523 | 18 | Alec Baldwin | P.O.D. | April 20, 2002 | |
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524 | 19 | Kirsten Dunst | Eminem | May 11, 2002 | |
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525 | 20 | Winona Ryder | Moby | May 18, 2002 | |
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Title | Original air date | |
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"SNL Remembers John Belushi" | March 11, 2002 | |
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of John's death, Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey host this retrospective of some of his greatest sketches on SNL. Dan Aykroyd makes a cameo appearance in this special. |
Weekend Update is a Saturday Night Live sketch and satirical news program that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest-running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast, and is typically presented in the middle of the show immediately after the first musical performance. Historically, one or two of the players are cast in the role of news anchor, presenting gag news items based on current events and acting as hosts for occasional editorials, commentaries, or other performances by other cast members or guests. In modern times, dedicated anchors are chosen among writing staff, often lead writers, in lieu of cast or featured players. Chevy Chase has said that Weekend Update – which he started as anchor in 1975 – paved the way for comedic news shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
Thomas Christopher Parnell is an American actor and comedian. First breaking through as a performer with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Parnell found wider success during his tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2006. After leaving SNL, he played the role of Dr. Leo Spaceman on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2006–2013). Parnell is also a prominent voice actor known for his deep and distinctive voice. In animation, he voices the narrator on the PBS Kids series WordGirl (2007–2015), Cyril Figgis on the FX series Archer (2009–2023), Jerry Smith on Adult Swim's Rick and Morty (2013–present), and Doug on Fox's Family Guy (2019–2022). His work also extends into commercials, having voiced the Hamburger Helper mascot “Lefty”, appeared in advertisements as “America’s Dad” for Orbit Gum, and is most known for voicing "The Progressive Box" in a series of advertisements by the Progressive Corporation.
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